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He got a couple of Venezuelan arms through the Rule 5: Carlos Monasterios and Armando Zerpa. I don't have any info on Zerpa. I'm sure i haven't seen him pitching or heard about him for that matter, but a quick research says he belongs to Leones del Caracas, so he might have not pitched on winter baseball (he could have pitched on Liga Paralela, which is a sort of "minor leagues" here).

Monasterios is the opposite and i've been watching him pitching for 2 or 3 seasons now. He's not that fast, so we can expect lots of control and grounders. In fact, he's been the best venezuelan pitcher this winter, on a season characterized for the dominance of hitters. His numbers are more remarkable when it is acknowledged that he pitches on a very small ballpark, where ball travels light and fast.

He's been an important part of a mediocre team fighting seriously for the postseason, in spite that team is coming from the worst season on its short history last year, with no important additions (well, they got El Duque Hernandez a couple of weeks ago).

His numbers so far: 7 wins, 2 losses, 51.1 IP, 39 K, 16 BB, 20 ER, 45 H. Two of those wins have been against Aguilas, so i expect him to be pulled off from winter baseball, he and his team are bugging me a lot.

I think that's more the "black leathery" as opposed to "I've-been sleeping-outside-recently leathery" set.

The avi was based on a thread where Dusty, rbnlaw, and myself were nattering on about Champions' League results, EPL, etc., joking that we'd have to unofficially change the name of this place since the hot stove league was so quiet.

I would never imply such a change in anything but the most facetious of suggestions. I'm mostly poking fun at my inability to stick to the topic at hand without flying off on some tangent

As for Champion's League talk, I'm sure there will be plenty of chances to distract me with that in the next few months, especially since LFC was unceremoniously booted in the group stage. I'm a man without a country, so to speak. I have no idea who I'll be rooting for, other than it will not be either Man U or Inter.

I'll have to check out what's going on over at Rodarte somewhere more appropriate than sitting at my desk at work. I mean, SoSG is about the only distraction that I can afford and still be moderately productive.